Leonard Snart Hops to It
by LadyDivine91
Summary: Caitlin and Cisco are confused as to why it seems like Len has been running to Barry's rescue lately. They find out when Barry shows up after a fight, covered in ice, and begging for their help. Coldflash. Secret relationship AU. Barry Allen. Leonard Snart.


**Written for the ColdFlashWeek2016 prompt Day 3 'Saving Each Other'**

"Where is he?" Caitlin asks, anxiously bouncing from one screen to the other, trying to locate Barry and, oddly enough, Leonard Snart. If there's one thing in the universe that Caitlin would have never bet on, it's that lately, when Barry gets himself in over his head (which he does pretty much every time he leaves the lab) that Leonard Snart would be the one to rush to the rescue. How the man even knows where Barry will be is beyond her. He seems to keep showing up in the most unlikely places, at the most fortunately coincidental times. When they spotted him during a bank robbery two weeks ago, that one she could understand. But the fact that he went out of his way to freeze the man with a gun pointed to Barry's head seemed like a departure from his usual m.o..

She had chalked it up to a dispute among rivals, with Barry stuck in the middle. Nothing more complicated than that.

But then there was the fire at the high school three days after. Being fast, Barry can seem nearly invincible. Everyone on Team Flash takes for granted the fact that he's not indestructible, that someday he'll come across something he won't be able to defeat using the Speed Force. The fire that engulfed the six-story building burned so red hot, they could barely find Barry in it using their sensors or any of Cisco's sophisticated tech. For the first time in a long while, Caitlin's heart stopped in her chest watching Barry run into it, be absorbed by it. So it was a relief to see that fire frozen solid as a mildly charred Barry ran in to save the last of the teachers locked in the lounge on the fifth floor.

And then there was the metahuman attack on the CCPD. Barry and the police force had it handled, but it was still lucky that Len happened to be locked in a holding cell that day. Of course, they had entertained the idea that the metahuman attack could have been a ploy to break him out, but when a 500 pound, 7 foot tall man with an iron fist tried to punch Barry from behind, why did Len step in the way he did?

But she can't process all of that now. That, on top of the fact that they just lost contact with Barry, no signal from his locator device, no heat signature anywhere, is making her head spin.

"I don't know," Cisco says, switching between camera views, trying to get a read on Barry. "I saw him for a second, and then …"

Electricity crackles, light flashes, and a sudden, violent _whoosh_ of air overwhelms the room.

"Jesus!" Caitlin exclaims, spinning in a complete circle as Barry finally makes an appearance.

"Guys!" he pants. "Guys, quick! I need your help!"

"What the hell …?" Cisco mutters when he gets a good look at Barry, his red suit coated in a layer of frost, holding a bundle of blue, favoring his stomach as if he's about to vomit. "He did it. He finally did it. That bastard shot you! After all this time, I knew there was a reason why he would …"

"What …?" Barry pants, confused by Cisco's anger as opposed to his urgency. Barry catches sight of his suit, steam rising as a result of vaporizing cold. He shakes his head. "No, no, Len didn't shoot me." As if to prove it, he unwinds one arm from his waist and puts Len's gun on Cisco's console.

"Then … what the hell happened?"

"Yeah? And by the way, what's going on between the two of you?" Caitlin asks because this – _this_ – with Barry covered in ice, claiming Len didn't shoot him, even carrying Len's gun, is the last straw. They can't be keeping secrets from one another, not when Caitlin and Cisco are supposed to helping him, _protecting_ him. "Because I get the feeling you know more than you've been telling us, Barry!"

Barry sighs, guilt painted in red splotches all over his face. "I know, I know, and I'm sorry. But, if it's any consolation, it hasn't been going on long. I just … didn't know how to tell you guys."

"Holy Mother of Galaga," Cisco breathes, eyes widening with understanding. "You're … dating Captain Cold, aren't you?"

Cisco's question, and Caitlin's resulting gasp, deepen the blush on Barry's skin, but he can't help the small smile twitching his lips.

"I … can't go into that right now," Barry says. Caitlin huffs, and crosses her arms. Cisco rolls his eyes. "But, I will," he says by way of an apology. "I promise I will. All you need to know is that he saved me. Len saved me. But we have to help him!"

"Why?" Caitlin asks. "What happened to him?" Leonard Snart is definitely not her favorite person, but the change from shy smile to set line on Barry's mouth is enough to convince her that the man needs their help.

"Okay." Barry takes a deep breath. "You guys have to promise not to flip out or anything. Alright?"

That comment chills Caitlin even more. Barry has yet to remove his other arm from his stomach. What she assumed was Barry nursing a stomach wound now looks to her like he's protecting something. That balled up blue mass he's holding, it looks like Len's parka.

What the hell happened to him?

"We promise," Cisco answers for the both of them. "What's going on?"

A giggle escapes Barry's lips. Caitlin scrunches her nose. That's very unlike Barry. It could be nerves. People tend to laugh inappropriately during stressful situations. But something inside her tells her that's not the case here.

"Well" – and there's that giggle again – "when I got down to the hospital to fight that new metahuman …"

"Yeah, we only saw it for a second, and then it blipped off our screen."

"Well, that's because he's some kind of teleporter," Barry fills in.

"So, he can travel from place to place at will. Like Nightcrawler," Caitlin clarifies.

"We can't call him that, though," Cisco says. "That would be copyright infringement."

"But that's not all," Barry says. "Teleporters like Nightcrawler can only travel to empty spaces. This metahuman, he can teleport inside people, mess with their molecules. He got inside Len, and that's why I got shot."

"The metahuman inhabited Snart, and he made Snart shoot you?"

"Yes. But Len fought back, that's why I didn't get hurt. It made the metahuman angry … and he …"

"Oh my God! What did he do to Len's molecules?"

"Is he a quivering blob of jelly?" Cisco asks, excited and disgusted, not so much concerned. "Did he turn him inside out?"

"Cisco!" Caitlin groans, the thought of Snart with his organs outside his body making her slightly more nauseous than the thought of him and Barry dating.

But only slightly.

"No, no, nothing like that." Barry snickers, making Caitlin and Cisco share a look. "He's uh …" Another snicker, and Barry can't seem to speak. "Let me just show you."

Barry unwraps his arm from around his waist, starts unrolling the bundle, which Caitlin can see clearly _is_ Len's parka. Barry is still snickering, but regardless of Barry's snafus in demeanor, Caitlin braces herself for the worst.

When Barry unveils what he's been clutching close to his stomach this whole time, Caitlin and Cisco stare in confusion, in relief, and … in amusement.

"He's uh …" Caitlin starts, but she starts giggling as well.

"He's a bunny wabbit," Cisco coos, stepping closer to the harmless looking lop, sitting in Barry's arms and grooming his blue-grey fur.

"He may _look_ like a rabbit," Barry says, watching as Cisco scratches the rabbit's forehead, "but I have a feeling that he's still Len inside, and that he can understand what we're saying."

"How do you figure tha- _ouch_!" Cisco yanks his hand back, sliding a full foot away, when the rabbit chomps down on the knuckle of his index finger.

"He seems a little oversensitive about his current condition."

"That doesn't prove anything," Caitlin says, cautiously relieving Barry of rabbit Len so Barry can change out of his damaged suit. "Rabbits bite."

"That's not all."

"What do you mean?"

"After he became a rabbit, he took off. Before I could grab a hold of him," Barry reaches into one of his utility pockets and pulls out a leathery lump, "he stole somebody's wallet."


End file.
